#AustrianProblems

I guess you've all heard someone mutter about ridiculous "First World Problems". Now there is a superlative: "Austrian Problems". In Vienna we have a saying "I'm unhappy - I can´t complain". We b*tch on and on about the pedestrianizing of a high street until some politicians actually decide to waste everyone's time and tax money and hold a referendum. Now that the Mahü is partly finished everybody loves it. Where are the protestors now? Shopping right along with the rest of us!

If you want to shake your heads a little more about our First World Problems like this excellent collection of pseudo-grievances and aggravations.

LET'S CEE FESTIVAL

  Due to the fact, that the only cultural experience I had in the past couple of weeks, was the LET'S CEE FESTIVAL in Vienna, I decided to write about it.

At the beginning of the post I should explain, what this festival actually was. The Let's Cee consists of 91 short films from the Central- and East Europe. These films are shown in their original language with German or English subtitles. Regrettably we haven't seen all of them, but the three that we have were really good indeed.

Why do I actually write about it on the Czech-out blog? I am not sure, whether it was only on the day, when we attended the cinema, but the lineup of the films has begun with a conversation with three immigrants in Austria. At the moment, of their speech, it was the first time I have thought about my position in this society. Altough the life stories of these speakers were bit different that mine, I have found a couple of connections between them. They were speaking about, how they came to Vienna and what was the hardest time for them. The most notable idea that was stacked my mind was: “If you want to be considered as equal by the society, you have to be able to at least speak their language fluently.” If you think about it and connect the idea with the daily life, you can see it's really true. Probably some of you are immigrants and have fought against prejudice as well. I am well alike one of them. However I personally disapprove of the idea of this motto, it doesn´t make your feelings any better. I'm in the foreign country the second year and I can personally say, what it is about. I should also note that my language skills are not up to native speaker's proficiency, however I try always to improve them all the time. On the other hand, I want to say, that the people in Austria, Vienna especially are thoughtful and considering. It's just better, when you don't have to consider yourself as inferior.

I am aware, I have had to write about the festival in general, but at this point this idea became the one for me that I will remember for the rest of my life. Mostly due to the fact that it resembles my life as well as many of yours.

PUTIN TOPS FORBES‘ LIST OF MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE, OBAMA IS SECOND

Even though most of the time we try to focus on local topics, this time we reached out for a global one, reason behind this being a) we find this one quite interesting, b) there’s not that much happening around here anyways and some more local focused post should be coming soon, covering happenings in Austria/Czech/Slovakia, c) Press freedom! We can write about anything we want to write about.
Anyways, back to the post itself:

Forbes takes list-making to a whole new level: the magazine is well known for its annual lists, including ones like ‘The World’s Billionaires list’, ‘The Richest People and America list’, ‚The World's Most Innovative Growth Companies list’ and – the most recent and talked about – ‘World’s Most Powerful People list’.
(All this ‘list list list’-ing makes me think of obsessive–compulsive personality disorder, and yes, I had to google it to get the name right.)

Putin tops the list, winning for the second time in a row. Forbes reasons for this choice are ‘a proxy war in the Ukraine’, ‘the deal to build a more than $70 billion gas pipeline with China (the planet’s largest construction project)’, ‘(giving asylum to) NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’ and the ‘chess match over Syria’.

So true we had to share..

If you ever lived abroad for a longer time you might know this feeling when you get out of your expat bubble and start behaving like the locals. This blogger shows us What it feels to really have arrived in Vienna and we could not agree more!

Finally! Kofola in Vienna!

Darling readers!

A while back we did a desperate search for our favourite cola drink - Kofola. Alas, it was nowhere to be found in the VIE. The last deli selling it had taken it out of stock months before, so it was back to bothering your friends and family in SK and CZ to bring our beloved elixir by the bottle.

But there has come the day when we can all rejoice and drink our caffeine soda while sitting down in a really nice place too. Vit Dvorak, dentist and chef, has opened his lovely coffee bar called GARAGE 01 in a former garage (what else?) underneath the light rail tracks on Radetzkyplatz in the heart of the 3rd district.

He and his staff serve up a fusion of Czech and South American food. 
You heard right: Czechozuelan! And that is also the name of his signature drink: Kofola and rum!

image: Garage 01

https://www.facebook.com/garage01

http://www.garage01.com/garage01/

The results of our survey

So... about 5 weeks ago we started a survey regarding Schwedenplatz.
And even though we consider all of the statements to be equally correct, there was one statement that our readers clearly considered to be the most correct. More than 60% of our readers think that "It´s just a stinky, crowded spot ", while one quarter of our readers believe that "In fact, there are some interesting shops/restaurants".
Only about 10% answered that it was "just a place to change trains or trams".

Here´s a nice diagram:

Thanks to everyone who took part!





How well do you know your city? Vienna vs. Bratislava, Part 4



Vienna, Bratislava

As you know our blog is based on comparing living in Austria, Slovakia and Czech. The other day we went to Bratislava to look for places that could be easily mistaken for Viennese – and trust me, though the two cities have a completely different vibe and atmosphere, we did find some that even a local could hardly tell apart from the Viennese ones.  

To test how much you know your city we made a little quiz about it. Every week we will give you two pictures to compare.

The winner gets a return ticket to BA!

Click HERE for the quiz!

Get lost in the viennese bermuda triangle

Schwedenplatz is a place in the centre of Vienna, where you find a lot of clubs and bars. The other name of the place is “Bermuda Triangle”. It’s right next to U4 Schwedenplatz – you can’t miss it! Every weekend it’s full of young people, so if you’re in doubt and don’t know where to go, you can always try the Bermuda Triangle. There’s loads of small and even smaller clubs, so here are some tips where we recommend to go and what you can find there!

5 tips for clubbing under 18 in Vienna!

So this time we decided to write more about nightlife in Vienna. Vienna is not the metropolis for parties, but there are certain positive aspects of partying in Austria that you might enjoy.
For example, it´s likely that you are not going to be asked for your ID card!
If you follow these easy steps, you are going to be able to enter a Viennese clubbing for sure, even if you´re underage! 

Go with a big crowd

This is probably the most important point of all!
When you go with a big crowd, the security guys will most likely only check the first three or four people!
After that they´ll realize that a crowd of 15 people means they´ll earn lots of money :P.
Also, ask some people where they go to school/university  and try to keep in mind the easiest name for if a security guy asks you (It doesn´t happen often, but it does occur every now and then).

Don´t be nervous

I think I don´t need to explain this one much. Just don´t look afraid or shy. There are cases where it´s not  enough to “go with the crowd”. This point shouldn´t be a problem if you follow the two next points, though!

Make up a new identity

This you will obviously need for if someone asks you how old you are.
You might think this question is easily answered, but in a stress situation you will freak out, really!
Therefore you need to think about it before you go to the club and really believe you are over eighteen.
It´s going to be too late when a security guy asks you.  You won´t have enough time to spontaneously say what year you were born.
Remember that you might come across more convincingly if you say you are 19.

Dress  up sexy and intimidatingly

If you are a girl and afraid that you look too infantine, you´ll probably want to find someone who´s skilled at applying make-up to make you look more adult. There are also some cool web sites with tutorials about this.
Next, find your favourite push-up  bra  and  get some sexy clothes.
But please be careful not to look like a slut ;).
If you are male, just  try to look like a swag  dude and give your best!

Only in case you´ll need it…

This is something I would only do in special cases and only if you really want to go to that one clubbing so badly that you are willing to take a risk.
It´s not like I´ve ever done that, but it did work for many people I know ;p
Scan your pass port and edit your birth date with Photoshop.
When you enter the club and they ask you to prove you are 18, pretend you are a tourist from Germany and say that therefore you´ve only got a copy of your pass port.
But as I said, don´t do this on a regular basis. Because if you do, you will likely be down on your luck some day!

Homeless in Austria - Part I.

Today we’d like to introduce you our new project:  homeless foreigners in Vienna.

In Vienna there are 5000 homeless people – and those are just the registered ones. Recently, they moved 25 homeless people from Stadtpark. There is a problem with an emergency shelter for homeless people from other EU countries because there is place only for 40 people, and there are around 46 people. A recent survey of homeless people in Hamburg shows that the proportion of foreigners has risen since 2002 from 17 to 27 (of Vienna there are no exact figures).

We made a little interview with a guy named Maglen. Maglen came here all the way from Norway just to find disappointment here. Now he’s looking for a way back home.

Maglen , 25, from Norway

How long have you been on the street?

Just a couple of days.

Could you tell us, what happened?

It´s a long story.

Could you tell us?

I really want to keep it myself, just one thing: I trusted the wrong people.

The results of Mahü

We have an update on the discussion about the Mahü issue!
There was a poll about whether the Mariahilferstraße should remain a pedestrian zone or not. The result is that 53 percent voted yes to the remodeling in a poll among residents. This means that the pedestrian zone will be built and finished by 2015. By 2015 the mahü shall be transformed into a pedestrian zone which will be 1.6 kilometers long. Nearly 50,000 residents of Mariahilf and Neubau were asked, more than 50 percent of the residents actually took part.

Puber arrested

We recently reported about Puber a well-known graffiti artist. (You can find the post here)

He was „famous“ for spraying his name everywhere possible.
Now he was arrested. On the website of „Vice“ magazine is now an interview with his flat mates. It was possible to read from it what kind of man he was.
His roomies told them that there wasn’t a deeper meaning when he was writing his name everywhere. He just wanted to be known. When he was in the news he reveled, didn’t matter if it was bad or good news. He referred to himself as “public enemy number one”. Furthermore they claimed that he has a “God complex”, which he demonstrated by putting a diaper on his head, on which was written: “I am God, you fagots”.
So as you can see, Puber was either mentally handicapped or just a genial idiot.

Sources (Vice magazine):

The interview
Other articles with the tag puber 

Working hard in the service industry in Vienna - Part I.

Maybe you noticed our blogpost about ‘Working hard in the service industry in Vienna’ in which we asked you to tell us about your experience with working in Austria as a foreigner. Today, we bring you the first interview!

On 24^th February 2014, we interviewed Petra Nyíriová,  a 21 year old, former student at Komensky from Slovakia. She currently studies English at the university in Vienna and used to work in Sport Experts but quit the job.

Which reasons did you have for moving to Austria?

-          I always wanted to move out from Slovakia because I just don´t like the economics and the whole package there. My mum has been working here for 5 years. She told me she found a school for me in Vienna, the Komensky school. So I thought „Yeah, why not?“ and that was it.

Was it hard to learn the new language?

-          It was, because, no offence to anyone, I didn´t really learn anything in school because  I had the opportunity to speak in my native language, which was Slovak.  So I wasn´t really forced to speak German. I didn´t have to, I just learned something about grammar, maybe. But then in these last 7 months in work I think I really found myself in this language (Does that sentence make sense?).
I learned the basic stuff about communication. In school it was hard because  you really have to speak properly, grammatically correctly and you have to be careful because you get marks.
In work you just talk, talk, talk to everyone to get along with them. 

Redesigning Mariahilfer Straße

In the last two years, Vienna  has had a much discussed topic. It  is the redesign of one of the most famous streets in Vienna - Mariahilferstraße. It´s a street that connects the 1st and the 14th district. Mariahilferstraße is above all known for its many shops. It means that every day thousands of people go along this street. This is actually one of the reasons, why this street has changed so much over the years.

The main issue is in fact the traffic there. Because in such a long street, which is used by so many people, cars should not drive. It causes many problems, from pollution to accidents. That´s unfortunately the problem which is discussed. The people have separated themselves into two camps. One side is against the traffic there that is why they want to remodel the street into a pedestrian zone. The other side is against any changes at all. One of the main reasons why they are against it is that they are using the bus line, which runs along the Mariahilferstraße.

The opinions about our “Mahü” are varied, one old men who works as a tobacconist, is very skeptical. Since 16th August 2013 he has had 30 percent less revenue. Because the drivers, who bought their cigarettes and their newspaper in his tobacco shop can no longer be his customers. But that’s just because the street isn’t rebuilt yet. However, fact is that it won’t work until they rebuilt the street, so that people can relax there and feel comfortable. Like it is on Broadway, New York. There the revenue increased by about 70 percent.

Starting February 17th, people will be asked for their opinions. It´s going to be a referendum that will be similar to an election: the side with more votes wins.

Akademikerball Riots

The most recent shocking event that happened in Vienna were the protest marches against the so called “Akademikerball”. The FPÖ, the Austrian right wing party (or "the Austrian Freedom Party") organising the event, which is an event comparable with the UK independence party, just to give you an idea of what it is.
It took place in the famous Hofburg on January 24th.
This year, one of the protest marches was unusually violent and destructive. There were approximately 4 or 5 marches in the inner districts of Vienna with 6000 demonstrators in total. Naturally, most of them were on the far left. Most of the marches proceeded peacefully, except the one protest on Stephansplatz, which caused that big turmoil. Among the demonstrators of this march there was a group called “Der schwarze Block” consisting of 200 people. The police knew beforehand that they were going to wear masks and therefor imposed a prohibition of wearing masks (including scarfs!), which made the inhabitants of the first district quite angry. We later found out that the police had warned us with good reason! - There were apparently busses which brought the masked hooligans from Germany and the result was this:
                                

Look what we found on Youtube #trashflash #questionabletalents

It's time for some funny videos - this time from Slovak and Czech “talents” – enjoy!

- Dominika Myslivcova is a girl from Czech Republic. The opinions about her are rather varied. She is a self-proclaimed Czech “Barbie Girl”. She became “famous” because she started writing a blog about herself. You can check it out here.

This is one of my favourite videos of hers: she explains how can you paint your boobs so they appear to be bigger
I just had a laughing fit… I really recommend this video if you are  looking for something funny … czech it aut !!

One more Prague girl: Nicky - Rich BoyI hope you will understand what she is singing
I’ve heard that she’s just an actor but anyway, it’s just so funny!Here another video by her is 'help for Petr Necas'

Mark Christensen is an American who lives in Slovakia. He is an English teacher at a Gymnasium (grammar school) in Myjava and he wrote a Song (with unusual lyrics) for his students. It´s very funny and nearly all Slovak youths know him. You can listen to it here.

This is a Valentin´s day song by Mark Christensen in both languages

One of the greatest Czech funny video makers are two men, they are called Viral brothers, and you can find them on YouTube. They make videos about stupid things people say, but also they make parodies of other famous videos. They are really witty.

They also have English subtitles in their videos, so even if you don’t speak Czech, you will understand.

I definitely recommend you to watch some of their videos. You will laugh your butt off!

Some of our favs are 'Sh*t mothers say' and 'Shit moms don't say'.

Write us what you think about them!  J

Working hard in the service industry in Vienna? Share your stories!

This is a call to all you shop assistants, clerks, asparagus pickers, cleaning ladies and gents, taxi drivers, sales promoters, food deliverers and call center agents!

What´s it like working in Vienna/Austria?
How does it compare to CZ/SK?
Are you getting along with the locals?

We want to know your stories!

Send your work stories to: czech.aut@gmail.com or send your contacts so we can meet up and interview you!

Have a great workday from all of us at CzechAut!

Crazy weather!

What´s wrong with the weather lately?

I think that everyone in Vienna was hoping for white Christmas, which actually turn out to be brown Christmas most of the time.
After all, it´s not uncommon that it snows in Vienna over New Year or at least in January.
But there is no snow in sight!
The weather reporters keep telling us that winter won´t come this year and I´m starting to believe it because everyone runs around like if it was autumn.
No surprise. It has 10°C outside…
Oh well, at least we don´t have to deal with the muddy snow this time.
It´s a pain in the neck!
I have to admit that these temperatures bother me, though.

Here some facts:
This winter was the warmest winter in history since 1997/98. The warmth record was raised almost by one degree. It´s special because when the record increases, it usually increases by only one or two tenth of a degree. The reason is global warming.

If this will go on like this, what will winter in Vienna look like in fifty years, I wonder.

What do you think of it?
Are you rather glad that winter has become that soft or does it bother you?

Feel free to comment!

Crazy weather!
source: ninja-bunny ;)